Alaska Department of Fish and Game, Fishery Data Series No. 12-61, Anchorage.
A creel survey to estimate angler effort, catch, and harvest of early- and late-run Chinook salmon (Oncorhynchus tshawytscha) was conducted on the Kenai River between the Soldotna Bridge and the Warren Ames Bridge from 16 May through 31 July 2009. During the early run (16 May–30 June), anglers harvested 898 (SE 143) Chinook salmon with 53,039 (SE 2,296) angler-hours of effort. Unguided anglers accounted for 45% of effort and 37% of harvest; the remaining effort and harvest were guided. The majority of the early-run harvest was composed of age-1.3 fish (33.5%, SE 6.4%) and age-1.4 fish (46.3%, SE 6.6%) with no age-1.5 fish, whereas early-run Chinook salmon passage at the sonar site was composed of a smaller percentage of age-1.3 fish (24.2%, SE 3.8%) and a greater percentage of age-1.4 fish (56.3%, SE 4.4%) and included 1.6% (SE 1.1%) age-1.5 fish. During the late run (1 July 31 July), effort was 177,176 (SE 6,195) angler-hours and harvest was 7,378 (SE 487) Chinook salmon. Unguided anglers accounted for 56% of effort and 42% of harvest; the remaining effort and harvest were guided. The majority of the late-run harvest was composed of age-1.4 fish (61.1%, SE 3.5%) with no age-1.1 fish, whereas the late-run Chinook salmon passage at the sonar site (1 July–10 August) was composed of 0.3% (SE 0.3%) age-1.1 fish, though a majority of the fish were age 1.4 (54.8%, SE 2.7%). A standardized inriver gillnetting program was conducted from 16 May through 10 August 2009 near the Chinook salmon sonar site. During the early run, 167 Chinook salmon, 931 sockeye salmon, and 4 Dolly Varden were captured. During the late run, 559 Chinook salmon, 1,798 sockeye salmon, 77 coho salmon, 5 pink salmon, and 5 Dolly Varden were captured. The ratio of Chinook salmon catch per unit effort relative to all species averaged 0.25 and 0.29 in the early and late runs, respectively.
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